


Defy thy Master

by dr_zook



Category: Hebrew Bible, The Bible
Genre: Bibleslash, Esau/Jacob if you squint, Genesis - Freeform, Hebrew, Other, Retelling
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-02-10
Updated: 2012-02-10
Packaged: 2017-10-30 21:52:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 377
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/336556
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dr_zook/pseuds/dr_zook
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This ficlet happens when you read <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis%2032&version=NASB">Gen. 32:22-32</a> and look at Alexandre Louis Leloir's <a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_Zh3L--gliS4/TB9aLHJJ_PI/AAAAAAAAC0U/Rb7B9BvO9A0/s1600/leloir+jacob.jpg">magnificent painting</a>. I did nothing but a re-telling of this part of the Genesis.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Defy thy Master

**Author's Note:**

  * For [liriaen](https://archiveofourown.org/users/liriaen/gifts).



His family is safe, but Jacob doesn't know for how much longer. He paces on his side of the stream until he can pace no more, and takes a rest. Only for one fitful heartbeat, or maybe a second.

He wakes because something heavy is constricting his chest, and it's becoming harder to breathe. A stranger clings to his body and breathes into his ear, "You're supposed to struggle some more."

The man smells of expensive oils and high air, of Yabbok's spindrift and merrily cackling fire sites. Jacob sighs, and instead of pushing away the assaulter he holds him tighter.

The man laughs and cymbals chime through the dead of night. And Jacob keeps him there, and shoves his bared throat and pelvis towards him. The man's laughter weaves into the short-grazed grass around them and seeps into Jacob's skin and hair.

The man is supple and strong, different than Laban's daughters whose arms and bosoms are as soft and healthy as their hair and laps. He reminds Jacob of his brother, and when he gets a hold of the man's ankle the other's gaze darkens like Esau's did often before.

"They call you 'Heel-puller' for a reason, I see," the man states, and twirls himself again around Jacob, tasting and probing him, scooping his shoulder-blades against his breast. He wheezes throaty syllables against Jacob's tuft and nape, grips painfully onto his hip, and Jacob stares at the rippling waters besides him when he feels the canopy tumble and expand again.

The expansion goes on until the black turns to blue and eventually to rosy brown. The man stirs and says, "Let go. It's almost dawn."

"You cannot go until you bless me," tired Jacob demands boldly.

The man slowly detaches him from his waist. "Your name is no longer 'Heel-puller'. You have wrestled with God and men, and you won. You are called 'Israel'."

Esau's brother averts his eyes filled with tears. "Tell me your name now."

"Silly, don't you know who I am?" The other asks touching the parting of his curly hair. When Jacob looks up again, the hand and the man are gone. The sun glides over the eastern mountains and tints the camp and river golden.

He rises and limps onwards.

**Author's Note:**

> The title is borrowed from [PESTILENCE](http://pestilence.nl/).


End file.
